Women in the boardroom

A global perspective

Recent legislative efforts and other initiatives have helped bring women’s representation in the boardroom to an all-time high. Despite this, nearly 90 percent of the world’s board seats still belong to men. This third edition of the Deloitte Global Center for Corporate Governance’s publication, Women in the boardroom: A global perspective highlights those initiatives, spanning 25 countries and six continents, aimed at balancing the scales in favor of a more diverse and inclusive boardroom.

Organizations would benefit from increased participation from shareholders on gender diversity discussions in the boardroom.

Explore Content

“It is encouraging that diversity - and more specifically, gender diversity - is frequently being discussed in the business community. However, we still see relatively few shareholder proposals and direct shareholder discussions about gender diversity in the boardroom beyond a small number of activist holders. This is clearly leading to too many one-sided discussions and may cause companies to conclude that their owners just do not see gender diversity as a priority. The debate around the increased role women should play in boardrooms will be strengthened if everyone participates: managements, boards of directors, business associations, policy makers, governments, and the shareholder community.”

The study examines initiatives in 25 countries aimed at increasing the number of women in boardroom positions around the world. The research highlights a variety of approaches to support diversity on boards, including requiring more disclosure on diversity policies, setting targets, and implementing quotas. The report found a large discrepancy among countries regarding the most efficient way to increase the number of women occupying boardroom positions.

Contacts

Partner | Risk Advisory leader

Hani led the development of the Risk Advisory practices in Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan and also the ME Risk Advisory Internal Audit Leader, and have over 18 years of experience providing consulting servi... More

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. Please see About Deloitte to learn more about our global network of member firms.